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Principal Ousted by Parents in California

Across America, Parent Trigger laws are being invoked to make changes in failing schools. In some cases, schools are transformed from traditional public schools and, in others, they are used to replace administration officials impeding the success of students. Just this month, parents in Watts, California made the decision to make changes to the administration at Weigand Elementary School.

A reported 61% of families with children at the school signed the petition calling for broad reforms, many more than the 50% plus one family minimum needed to execute he parent trigger law. The LAUSD approved the petition five votes to two, clearing a path for parents to make the changes they felt were necessary for the education of their children. The parents chose to remove the school’s principal, and a new one will be in place for the beginning of the 2013-14 school year. "We will have to bring in a new principal for the school," Tommy Chang, instructional superintendent for LAUSD, said. "We have not made a decision as to where the new principal will (come from).”

Parents felt current principal Irma Cobian was standing in the way of their children getting an effective education. There were reports of rudeness and inaccessibility, delays in individualized learning plans for students with special needs, and that she was at the root of a “culture of intimidation” with teachers. According to Ben Austin of Parent Revolution, the group which supported the parents,

“The kids will be better off under new leadership, not someone who has presided over abject failure. All the students come from low-income families, more than half are not fluent in English and a quarter turn over every year.”

When parents find that their children are not getting the support to succeed academically, they need to step up and demand changes. Fortunately, in California, this is allowed through Parent Trigger legislation. When parents are aware and involved, they can truly make a difference.

“And at the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.”
This is music to the ears of advocates for federalism, school choice, and, frankly, for student success everywhere. These words came directly from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos last week at a conference in DC titled “Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned,” held by the free-enterprise think tank American Enterprise Institute.

At the moment, California is considering the possibility of implementing a single-payer healthcare system. SB 562, the Healthy California Act, would essentially expand Medicare coverage so that it covered every person in the state of California. Having been approved by the Senate, the bill now goes to the state Assembly where it has a chance of passing. However, if it does pass, it would be a massive problem for the state as it would face significant increased state spending, higher taxes, and decreased quality of health care.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Despite opposition from teachers’ unions, DeVos was able to get the nomination with a confirmation vote from Vice President Mike Pence. There have been many arguments for and against her candidacy for the nomination, but now she is US Secretary of Education. With her nomination, there are various positives to look forward to that could be of great benefit to education reform. The most prominent one being: increasing school choice.

As the recent hearing in the Texas legislature shows, the school choice debate is far from over. The Texas House of Representatives faces pressure from public school administrators and teachers unions on one end and school choice proponents on the other.

Last month's proposed rules on school accountability are yet another reminder that it’s time for federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education to get their hands out of our education system. In its latest power grab, the department seeks to enact top-down measures that would remove authority from the hands of teachers, school districts, and state government. The regulation would impose Education Department-mandated accountability measures promulgating federal government oversight over student and school achievement.

Yesterday's proposed rules on school accountability are yet another reminder that it’s time for federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education to get their hands out of our education system. In its latest power-grab, the department seeks to enact top-down measures that would remove authority from the hands of teachers, school districts, and state government. The regulation would impose Education Department-mandated accountability measures promulgating federal government oversight over student and school achievement.

Common Core Fails, but Education Department Tries to Silence Critics
This month we are in the middle of what the Department of Education educrats have labelled as “Testing Season.” That’s right. It’s not duck season, it’s not rabbit season, it’s Testing Season. As hundreds of thousands of students opt out of Common Core testing, teachers are weighing the professional risks of speaking out against this testing. Instead of fixing the problems with Common Core and its myriad of regulations, Education Department bureaucrats have resorted to shooting the messengers – our nation’s teachers. Perhaps Testing Season should be renamed Hunting Season.

FreedomWorks was represented at the University of California in Irvine this past weekend at the California Young Americans for Liberty State Convention, in order to push our Generational Theft survey and youth outreach for our upcoming Generational Theft fly-in during the FreePAC: Morning in America Summit, in Cincinnati March 12.

As attempts to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) are continually stalled out in Washington, California took the initiative, and Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed a new bill into law last week. CalECPA or S.B. 178 greatly strengthens state privacy standards compared to federal requirements under ECPA. Most importantly, the legislation mandates that state authorities must obtain a warrant to access any private emails, regardless of age. This is a notable change from the previous standard, which allowed authorities access to the same content without a warrant as long as the emails were dated past 180 days. Additionally, the bill would also require California authorities to obtain a warrant not only for emails, but for digital records, texts, and a user’s geographical location as well. Even further, the protections provided in this bill would be applied to online storage services in addition to electronic devices.